Beautiful Friendship
by scoob2222
Summary: Lisa went a full two months in New York before she had to call him. Lisa/Eric


At her going away party the day before she'd gotten on a plane to come to New York City, and FIT, Jessie had pulled her aside and pressed a piece of paper into her hand.

The conversation had one something like this:

"What's this?" she asked, opening the little slip of paper.

"Eric's new number in New York."

She was shocked and her face must have shown it, "Jessie, I'm not…"

"I know, I know," Jessie said quickly, "You're not going there again. It's just…listen Lees, you are the only one going so far away. I just…I just want you to have a safety net, just in case."

She smiled at her friend, forcing back the tears, "What about women's lib? We don't need no men and all that."

Jessie shrugged, "Well, that's me. You totally can't take care of yourself."

"Oh thanks," she cracked, smacking her friend lightly before hugging her.

Then she'd dutifully written the number in her adorable little address book intending to never even look at it again.

She'd been in New York for two months and she was already staring at the number, standing in front of a payphone and deciding whether to call him.

Not that she really had a choice in the matter. It was one in the morning, her friends had ditched her, and her date had stolen her wallet. She didn't have money for a cab, because she was so anal about her money she didn't even have some change at the bottom of her purse that she could maybe scrape into a subway ticket. No, she was trapped unless she wanted to walk forty blocks at night in her brand new Gucci heels.

Sighing she picked up the phone, holding it near her ear, never letting it touch her skin, as she called him collect of all things. It was so humiliating.

She waited for the operator to tell her to say her name and she did, slowly and clearly, in case he'd forgotten who she was. He probably had, he probably had at least three hundred other…

"Lisa," the voice over the line said his accent still as thick as it always had been, "What's wrong?"

"How do you know something's wrong?"

She could practically hear his shrug, "Well, let's see, it's been almost two years since I've heard from you and you just called collect so something being wrong is a pretty good guess in my opinion."

"Fine," she said, practically growling at him, "I'm stuck in front of a club, my date stole my money, my friend ditched me, and I have no way of getting him. Jessie gave me your number and I was desperate, but I should have known you wouldn't even…"

"Tell me the address and I'll be right there."

She stopped short, breathing hard, before telling him the club's name.

"Jeezus, had to make it hard on me? I'll be there as soon as I can. Stay around people and don't talk to strangers."

"I don't…." she never got to finish her sentence because a second later she was listening to the dial tone, "Jerk!"

She growled again, reminding herself she couldn't stomp her feet in there shoes and went to stand under the big lighted sign of the club. She wanted him to be able to see her so she could get home as soon as possible. Maybe she'd get lucky and he'd catch laryngitis on the way.

As she waited she couldn't help, but think of what it was going to be like to see Eric again. Once she started thinking of that, memories of their last night together swamped her and she bit her lip to keep back the tears that threatened to spill over.

After Eric's shaky first week in California, he'd grown to love it—Jessie's family, Jessie, their group and…well she thought he'd grown to love her. Then, three months after moving across the country, he got a call from his mom. She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and despite her arguing that she was fine Eric has wanted to move back home and be with her.

She'd understood, even admired him wanting to be with his mother when she was hurting. They'd always planned on dating long distance and he promised to be back to spend senior year with her.

That last night together…it had been perfect. She hadn't exactly been waiting for Prince Charming, but…she'd wanted her first time to be with someone special, someone she love and who loved her. And even though they'd dated only a short time in her heart Lisa had never loved anyone the way she loved Eric…not even close.

For a month, they'd exchanged daily phone calls, even letters, but then one day they just stopped. She knew from Jessie that Eric's mom was cancer-free well before their senior year began, and when he didn't come back or get into contact with her she'd forced herself to forget him, to hate him completely and totally. Now, she was going to have to get into a car with him and make small talk. She wanted to cry…no scream at the top of her lungs at him. She wouldn't do that though, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She'd just…sit there, be pleasant, and thank him as she got out of the car.

Then she'd forget him all over again.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss. Lisa Turtle." Lisa felt her whole body stiffen at the sound of his voice. He was driving a corvette, whose it was she couldn't imagine, and he was practically leering at her through the window.

She moved toward the car, reaching for the door handle only to find it locked.

"Can you open this stupid thing and let me in?" she said, fuming on the inside.

"First, you have to say the magic word."

She let out a hiss, "Please."

He smiled and flipped the switch so that she could open the door. She got in, slamming the door behind her and putting her seatbelt on, "Look, I know this is out of your way, but I was desperate, so if you could just take me home I'd appreciate it."

He shrugged, "Sure, anything for a friend of my sister's."

Her jaw clenched, that couldn't be all he thought of her as, could it?

"I live…"

"FIT, I know. Jessie bragged when you got in. Congrats, by the way, a life of fashion was always your dream."

"As opposed to your dream of what…what are you even doing now?"

"NYU," he said confidently, smirking at her, "Scholarship into their writing program."

"Oh," she said, turning to look out the window, "That's…congratulations."

He shrugged, "Its cool. I like to write, plus it's a career that gives you a lot of freedom. I like that."

"I know, how free were you being when you got this car?"

He laughed, not at all insulted, "Its not stolen, don't worry. My mom bought it for me when I graduated high school. I think she was amazed I got through it, and when I got the scholarship, well, I'm her only kid so she wanted to spoil me."

Lisa smiled, "That's nice. How…How is your mom?"

"She's fine, cancer free for over a year now."

"That's wonderful," she said, meaning it completely, but…at the same time, the very topic brought up memories of him leaving…and not contacting her, leaving her to try to figure out what was going on between them.

The car fell into silence and Eric immediately fell back on sarcasm, "So, how's Bayside? As wild and crazy as always."

"Hey, Bayside was plenty crazy…and wild."

"Just like you right?" he joked, "You didn't even want to get into Belding's car when you didn't know it was stolen."

"Wild, not criminal," she said, "I've been very crazy. I even dated Zack."

She was thankful that he was stopped at a light when she said that because he started laughing hysterically, unable to contain his mirth at the idea.

"Stop it!" she yelled, "Stop laughing you jerk."

"I'm sorry," he said, trying to calm down, "It's just…come on, you and Zack. Tell me know you could do better than that."

"Like who?" she asked, suddenly angry, "Someone who takes off across the country and never calls again."

His laughter stopped and silence reigned again in the car.

They finally arrived outside her dorm and she moved to get out with an unfeeling, "Thanks for the ride."

"Wait, Lisa, wait," he said, his hand coming out to grab her arm, "Just…listen for a second."

"Fine," she said, settling back in her seat, "I'm listening."

"When my mom got sick all I could think of was getting back here. Talking to you every night it was all that kept me sane. Then she got better and she told me I could go back to California, but…I knew she needed me to stay. She wouldn't say it because she wanted me to do what made me happy, but she needed me. So, I stayed."

"And you couldn't have called or…"

"If I called I might not have been able to stay away," he says it quickly and then looks away, "I never meant to hurt you."

Lisa sighs, "Thanks for telling me that. Listen, it was a year ago, we should just forget it. Thanks for the ride, maybe I'll see you around." She opened the car door again, getting out and closing it behind her.

"Hey, Louis," he said, doing his best Humphrey impression.

Lisa stopped, turned around, "Yes, Rick?"

"Maybe you should give me your number, you know. In case, I get in trouble. Big city, could use a friend."

She smiled, reaching into the car for his hand, she got out a pen and scrawled a number on his palm, "Friendship, huh?"

"A beautiful one," he said, the Bogart back.

Lisa laughed and stood up again, "We'll see Rick. We'll see."


End file.
